


The Incident

by bythelightofthenight



Series: Tumblr Prompts [6]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Secret Crush, raven is the hottest girl in town, they didn't get along too well as kiddos, woah slightly longer for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4501548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bythelightofthenight/pseuds/bythelightofthenight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt</p>
<p>#14 things you said after you kissed me</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Incident

**Author's Note:**

> i didn't remember there were so many oh lordy
> 
> [original](http://natharmiller.tumblr.com/post/118052306647/can-you-do-minty-for-things-you-said-after-you)

_Monty had only just gotten his arms around Nathan’s neck, kissing him back with as much enthusiasm, when the boy was already pulling away._

_“I ruined your painting in the sixth grade”, Nathan whispered._

_“What?”_

 

*

 

The first time Monty met Nathan was in the third grade when he moved into a new town after his parents’ divorce. His new school was a lot smaller than the old one by at least a few hundred kids, and everyone seemed to already know each other.

Monty had walked into the classroom after his new teacher Mrs. Griffin, clutching the straps of his backpack tightly. He was made to tell his name to the whole class before getting to sit down. The girl next to him was called Harper and she had just learned how to braid her own hair. Monty got to hear about it through his first two days.

His first meeting with Nathan didn’t go as well. The boy already had his friends and he wasn’t looking for new ones. He was actually known for having a best friend on the fourth grade: an older boy called Bellamy. So the first time Monty had contact with him, it happened with his football instead of the boy himself.

The ball came out of nowhere and hit him right in the shoulder, making him lose balance. Nathan jogged up to him, holding out a hand for him and offering a quick “sorry” before running after his ball. Monty decided, like his mother had taught him, it was too early to pass judgment.

 

*

 

By the sixth grade, the judgment was well earned.

Monty did not like Nathan Miller. He was too self-assured and cocky, always making snide comments about things. And it seemed to get worse whenever Monty had to be near him. Now, Nathan, or Miller as he wanted himself to be called now, was never directly mean to him - that wasn’t his thing - but Monty could imagine his undying need for commentary continuing outside of school as well. He was used to the boy trying to get a reaction out of him, though, just rolling his eyes at Harper whenever he heard his name said.

_The incident_ , as they referred to it, happened at the end of the year. The whole school had been painting pictures to be put on the walls for the yearly graduation party. Monty’s piece got compliments from everyone and he was incredibly proud of his work. Not even Nathan had anything to say about it.

Just a few days before the end of the school year Monty came to school to find his classmates swarming around something. When he moved closer, the crowd parted to let him through. In front of him was only Harper, who looked sad and nervous but still stepped away. On the desk there was his painting, covered in a dried pool of blue paint. The paint looked like it had been tried to spread even wider across the canvas.

Monty could feel tears of disappointment prickling in his eyes, but he held them back. He immediately turned to Nathan who wasn’t looking at him.

“Did you do this?”

The boy looked up. “Why are you blaming me?”

“Call it intuition. Did you do it?”

Nathan crossed his arms over his chest, the unimpressed look on his face wavering just a little. “Why would I do that? You have no proof of anything.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Why did you do it? Couldn’t you let me have this one thing?”

“What have I not let you have?”

“A moment of peace, a ––”

“Good morning, kids!” Mrs. Griffin walked in. “So sorry I’m a little late. Clarke’s sick and I –– What’s wrong?”

“Nathan ruined my painting!” Monty exclaimed.

“I did not! Mrs. Griffin, he’s blaming me for no reason!”

“Okay, everyone sit down”, she held up her hands at any other objections. “Does anyone want to tell me something? Monty’s beautiful painting is ruined. He has the right to be upset. Now, one of you needs to be a good friend and admit to doing wrong. Monty deserves an apology.”

Monty pointedly glanced back at Nathan. His own work looked exactly like Murphy’s next to him. In that moment Monty hated all of them and their stupid last name trend.

No one spoke up and with an apologizing look Mrs. Griffin had to move on.

 

*

 

Most of them continued school in the same town all the way until the end of high school. Monty was still in the same class with Harper and Jasper, but fortunately for him Nathan was in a different one. Fortunately because even though he still disliked the boy, puberty had done wonders on him and now he happened to look like a daydream Monty would never let himself have.

Monty had come out on his freshman year of high school. He knew his mom wouldn’t have a problem with it and neither did his friends. Harper was interested in studying human sexuality, now flowers in her hair, and Jasper didn’t care much about anything but becoming legends amongst their peers.

Nathan was busy through high school as well. There wasn’t a day when Monty didn’t have to hear about the girls he was dating through the gossip mill. Monty really didn’t know what Clarke Griffin and Raven Reyes saw in the boy.

Harper, as good of a best friend she was, had continuously told him over the years that Nathan wasn’t actually that bad, but Monty refused to believe her. To him the boy was still a pain in the ass - no matter how pretty his eyes were.

 

*

 

Life got a lot less exciting after high school. Monty worked while studying, constantly too busy to take a breather. So at the end of their junior year, Harper finally forced him to come to a party.

“It’ll be just like when we were still in high school”, she said.

Monty sure hoped not, because high school parties were never anyone’s prime time.

It didn’t take long for him to get drunk with how tired he was. Harper knew a lot more people than he did so she was all over the place while Monty just sat on the couch and stared into his drink. A few hours in, he was finally starting to gain back some energy and got into a conversation with a couple of other partygoers. Harper’s voice got him to lose focus from it, though, and he had to turn around to see why she was talking so loudly.

“Dude, where are you going?” the guy he’d been talking to asked as he suddenly got up.

“Shut up”, Monty said before climbing over the back of the couch to get to Harper faster.

“Monty! Look who’s here!” Harper grinned, pointing to Nathan Miller who was smiling sheepishly at him beside her.

Monty blinked at him slowly. “No fucking way.”

“Hi to you too.”

“Why is he here?” he turned to Harper.

“Miller’s starting here next semester. Isn’t that a funny coincidence?”

“No”, Monty frowned at Nathan again. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, pretty sure.”

“Alright”, Harper started backing away from them. “This is not interesting enough for me. You two have fun catching up.”

Monty watched her walk away and ran a hand through his hair. “This is weird. Where have you been for the past two years?”

Nathan shrugged. “I’ve been around. Tried a few things. Had to deal with some stuff. Came out to everyone a few months ago.”

“What?”

“Yeah.”

“Really? You?”

“Yup.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

“Can’t say I was expecting that.”

“Me neither.”

“Huh”, Monty glanced down at him, brain buzzing with thoughts. He still looked great. But the same. But different. “Now it’s even weirder.”

Nathan huffed out a laugh, reaching out to take his drink out of his hand and downed it in one go. “So what have you been up to?”

 

*

 

The next morning Monty got dressed and left Nathan’s apartment as quickly as he could. Nathan just sat on his bed without saying a word and followed him when he got out of his bedroom. Still silent, he watched Monty tug on his shoes from a safe distance.

Neither of them knew what to say so Monty just left. He got to the end the street before noticing his keys were missing. With a resigned sigh he returned back to Nathan’s.

“I don’t have my keys”, he said once Nathan opened the door.

“Okay, I’ll go see if they’re in my room”, Nathan left the door open for him, and Monty stepped inside out of politeness. “Here”, Nathan returned quickly, keys in hand. “They were under the bed.”

“Makes sense”, Monty rubbed the back of his neck, holding out his other hand for them, “since… that’s where my jeans were.”

“Yeah”, Nathan placed the keys on his palm, and for a second Monty hated himself a lot because there was a definite, actual spark that he felt when Nathan’s fingers brushed his skin.

“Fuck”, he muttered to himself.

“Monty, I ––”

“Shut up. Just do it”, he snapped.

Nathan grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in to catch his lips with his own. Monty had only just gotten his arms around Nathan’s neck, kissing him back with as much enthusiasm, when the boy was already pulling away.

“I ruined your painting in the sixth grade”, Nathan whispered.

“What?”

“I ruined your painting… In sixth grade”, Nathan said a little louder. He was still holding onto Monty’s shirt but his grip was loosening. “It was me.”

“And you’re telling me this _after_ I had sex with you?”

Nathan bit his lip. “Would’ve that changed your mind?”

Monty’s eyes got distracted for a moment as they wandered over his still bare chest, but he snapped out of it quickly. “That’s beside the point. I was right. You’re a jackass.”

“I am –– I was a jackass. I know. Could we –– Could we maybe go have breakfast or something? And talk?”

Monty eyed him suspiciously, but nodded. “But only because you still owe me a damn good apology. And don’t say ‘wasn’t last night damn good enough’. Even if it was, I would still punch you.”

 

*

 

They settled into a booth in a diner nearby. Monty made Nathan pay for his coffee. And he planned on stealing one of his waffles.

“So”, Monty said, stolen waffle mostly gone. “I’m listening.”

Nathan played with the edge of his napkin. “I don’t even know how to say this. But I’m sorry for the painting. It was an accident. I swear.”

“Why didn’t you come clean then? I would’ve been mad but that’s it. No mystery left to remain unsolved.”

“I –– I didn’t want anyone to know how it happened. And…”

“And?”

“I didn’t want you to be mad at me”, Nathan admitted, glancing at him from under his lashes.

“I was always mad at you! What’s the difference?”

“Because I didn’t want anyone to know I’d been practicing. I wanted to use yours as a model but then I heard someone coming and in the hurry I ended up knocking over the paint. I tried to clean it off but it was too late.”

“You were painting? Why was it such a big deal?”

“Because I wanted to impress you, but I couldn’t have anyone knowing I was doing it.”

Monty stayed quiet for a while. Going through the time in his mind. “So that’s why you ended up copying John Murphy. So you’d seem uninterested.”

“Yeah”, Nathan leaned a little closer, still fiddling with the napkin like it was helping him stay focused. “I didn’t understand it then. It took me a long time to understand a lot of things. But I never wanted to make you feel bad. I just… wanted your attention.”

“So you didn’t realize you liked me in primary school. You still dated the hottest girl in town in high school.”

“Raven?” Nathan chuckled. “She’s gay too. I just knew I didn’t want to have sex with her so we were kind of each other’s accidental beards. I don’t know what to tell you, Monty. I didn’t come to grips with this until this year. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so out of place all the time. I thought about joining the army at one point like my dad, but I never did. I’ve just been working and trying to figure shit out.”

Monty reached out to cover his hand with his own. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. This just came out of nowhere, really. I always thought you hated me or something. You were so cocky all the time. I didn’t like that. But I always thought it was mutual.”

“Yeah, well”, Nathan held on to his fingers. “I was a stupid kid. Doesn’t make me any less sorry. I never wanted you to hate me. I just didn’t know a better way to make you respond.”

“I think it’s working just fine now.”

“You do?”

“Yeah”, Monty smiled softly. “You’re a lot less annoying nowadays.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”


End file.
